Explore this useful catalog of all free e-books available for Kindles through Amazon. It is quite extensive with many categories: Advice & How-to, Biographies & Memoirs, Business & Investing, Children's eBooks, Fantasy, History, Literary Fiction, Mystery & Thrillers, Politics & Current Events, Reference, Religion & Spirituality, Science, Science Fiction, Sports, Teens, Travel, and many others. At the time of this review, there were over 69,000 free eBooks listed on the site.

In the Classroom

This site is a helpful classroom reference tool. Save this link on your classroom computers. Find books to use at learning stations, especially if you are a BYOD (Bring your own Device) school. Be sure to provide this link on your class website for students to use at home. The books available include all those in the public domain and titles whose authors have granted permission for free dispersal.

A Europe of Tales offers visual and auditory experiences of the myths and legends in Europe, easy for younger student to understand. The Flash animations do include written text, so reading is required. There is music and sound effects along with the text and images. Choose from 8 languages to begin. Click on one of the five countries to start exploring: Iceland, Italy, Brittany, Finland, or Scotland. Within each country find options for stories to view. Click on links within these stories to view actual images, additional facts, maps, and tasks (teaching suggestions). As is typical of many original (not "Disneyfied") folk tales, some subject matter is a little dark and relates to death. Preview for appropriateness in your classroom.

In the Classroom

Choose myths and legends to share on your interactive whiteboard or projector. This site is perfect for when you are studying European countries or when teaching a unit on myths and legends. Students could explore in small groups to discover similarities to more familiar folktales. Another idea: use this site in your world language class. Explore the site in the language you are teaching. The site is offered in French, Italian, and several other languages. Use an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram (reviewed here) to create a visual comparison of different folk tales and story patterns.

Discover interactive and animated representations of historic events and time periods. Choose from American, European, Latin American, or African history. Within each of these choices is a list of modules. Each module provides information and interactive content such as timelines or maps that guide you through the specified time frame. The slider at the bottom of the map allows you to move in time.

In the Classroom

View modules together as a class on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Provide links to selected modules on your class webpage or blog. Use as one source for students to create their own maps. Using a mapping tool such as Mapskip (reviewed here) to create a map of any specific time period or event. With Mapskip students can even include audio "stories" and pictures.

Go Social Studies Go! is a colorful and rich collection of multimedia books about Social Studies topics. It is divided into four main sections: World History, US History, Geography, and World Religions. Learn about nine different world religions. There are over ten different regions to explore (Middle East, Caribbean, Russia, China, and more). Topics of US History include slavery in America, political parties, various presidents, inventors, Jamestown, and more. There are also world history topics: Marco Polo, Ancient China, African Empires, Life in Nazi Germany, and many others. Choose any section to find booklets containing images, videos, text, and links to additional resources. Click on links within each section to view content. This site was written by a teacher for his students. The text and content maintain student interest and enjoyment using student-friendly language.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Bookmark this site for use in middle and high school Social Studies classes. Select content to view as a class on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Introduce the site to students and let them explore specific sections on their own. Share a link to the portion of the site desired through your class website or blog. Have students or student groups create online posters using Check This (reviewed here). This site is also a useful reference for students to "look up" a major historic event to better understand historical fiction or even movies. Make it available as a general reference link on your class web page.

Find ways to encourage and get your students to splash in the world of reading. Designed for grades K-12, the site offers a search engine to find new literature to read, short quizzes to check your comprehension of over 8,000 books in the database, a Kid's Zone (mainly for elementary students), plus links for both teachers and parents! They also offer prizes. Build your own booklists. You can search by grade level, difficulty, and even subject (MANY to choose from). Request a free teacher kit for detailed and engaging ways to motivate your students. Find resources for successful parent involvement. Watch the introductory video on the homepage to learn more. Contests through the site offer additional reading incentives. While this site does offer a book search and quizzes for all grade levels K-12, it has an "elementary" look. Registration is FREE, but required for several of the activities. Registration requires an email address (for teachers, students, or parents).

In the Classroom

Find detailed ways to help parents support the wonderful world of reading with their students. Have each student create individual reading lists and work towards prizes. Students can use this site as a search tool to find new reading suggestions. Motivate students by setting individual goals. Use quizzes for books as part of literature studies, or examine the type of questions given. Challenge your students to create their own quizzes about a book they recently read. Have students create their own quizzes (and more) using ClassTools (reviewed here).

AwesomeStories is a one stop shop of primary source materials. It is a gathering place of sources located at national archives, libraries, universities, museums, historical societies and government-created websites. The site includes documents, videos, audio clips and narrations. Topics range from the Women's Movement to Emperor Penguins to Abraham Lincoln to the Easter Story (through medieval/renaissance art) and much more. Search by biography, disaster, trials, flicks, history, philosophy, sports, or the arts. You can also search by lesson plans, narrations, slide shows, videos, images, audio clips, documentaries, and more! You can also take advantage of the Visual Vocabulary to learn vocabulary related to many of the stories and video clips available at this site.

In the Classroom

Use this rich site to support your social studies, history, science, language arts classroom and many others! There is a lot here to explore and many diverse topics. Use the Visual Vocabulary Builder to introduce your students to new vocabulary in a different way. Middle and high schoolers could use the movies to teach about character development and themes. The site includes several lesson plans that help you teach with current movies. Have your students use the site to find historical images to use in presentations. (Be sure to check the licensing on any image you use and cite it properly.) Project the video clips using an interactive whiteboard or projector to introduce students to a unit of study. Challenge small groups of students to explore one of the topics presented at this site and share their "story" with the rest of the class. Have students create an annotated image including text boxes and related links using a tool such as Thinglink, reviewed here. Many texts on this site are also useful examples of informational texts for practice of Common Core standards.

Lore is created for instructors to design their own MOOC type courses without needing adoption by a whole school or district. Most importantly, creating a course is unbelievably SIMPLE. Not sure what a MOOC is? A Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is (usually free), open course offered by a teacher or university for anyone willing to learn. It is a student and community centered place for learning developed by university students. In Lore, teachers control who is in the network through use of a class membership code. Course materials, tests, and grades can be added and managed through Lore. Teachers can contact students and decide what to make public or private. Students are able to interact with and learn from each other. Learning becomes more interactive and extends beyond the classroom. Lore also features a discussion area, calendar, library, and gradebook. Each student and teacher have profiles which others can follow. Teachers and students can create academic groups for learning. Teachers can create a group with other teachers to develop a PLN.

Not sure where to begin or not ready to start on your own? Use elements of ready-made courses at Lore to experiment and enrich your curriculum. Search through the popular courses to look at what other teachers and professors are offering.

In the Classroom

Create your course and offer it to your students for greater interaction and learning through community building. Find great ideas from other existing courses. Teachers of gifted can use courses to challenge students in their areas of interest. You can also have gifted students create or collaborate on a student-made "course." Explore the topics yourself for some new, engaging topics to round out your own expertise. Allow students to enroll in a course that would fit into their career goals as an exploratory opportunity in that field.

Find and print many useful charts at Chart Jungle. Topics include story starters, homework charts, reading logs, and more. Chart Jungle also includes alphabet and number flash cards to print and use. Other interesting printables include the digestive system, clocks, and skeletons. Choose any chart to print directly from your computer. Although this site does include a lot of advertisements, there are many timesavers and treasures.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use Chart Jungle as a resource for charts for use throughout the school year. Familiarize yourself with this site at the beginning of the school year. Use the reading chart for students to record the minutes spent reading at home. Use the homework charts to help your students stay organized. Share the flash cards link with parents to use at home.

This is an extensive "hotlist" of sites and lessons to be used on the SMART Board. In addition there are many tutorials to help you learn about the SMART Board. This collection covers mainly grades K-5 and all subject areas. However, there are also some resources for secondary level. The topics vary greatly, and the quantity of websites is impressive. Some items will require you to have Smart Board software installed on your computer to open the files. Some files will work using the SMART Notebook Express online viewer reviewed here. Some of the resources shared are created in the United Kingdom. American English speakers may notice some slight spelling differences. Please note: some of the resources are websites that could be used on any brand of interactive whiteboard (or computer) and are not strictly Smart Board resources.

In the Classroom

These lessons are great for the new SMART Board user or the seasoned pro. Stop and think before you start about how to use them in a student centered lesson, trying some of the lesson formats that help you avoid being "Vanna." View the lessons as is or use them to help you create your own lesson. Use the training videos to help your teaching peers and new SMART Board users learn how to use the SMART Board. Many of these tools could be used on any brand of Interactive Whiteboard.

This open source, collaborative mapping site is known as the "Wikipedia of maps." This easily editable map is up to date as locations change (as they often do). The license just requires you to credit OpenStreetMap, and you can copy, download, and amend the maps without limitation.

In the Classroom

Use any part of this map for your school projects. Share the maps on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Copy, download, or alter maps as needed. The license requires crediting OpenStreetMap. Build completely new maps around a specific theme or concept, such as walking, hiking, bicycling, routes for those with disabilities, among others. Create projects traveling through various areas around various themes such as places to eat, sleep, or play. Students create stories about stopping in these places to share with others. If you teach geography, this one's a must. It is also helpful for showing students WHERE a story or news event takes place. If you teach map skills or teach about how communities grow, be sure to share this map to show how maps can change when a new street or highway is built. If you have a new road in your area, show the difference between this map and older ones that can be found online. Challenge students to compare this map to others.

This STEM Initiative provides easy to understand and detailed videos about Math and Science concepts for grades 1-12. Choose from the categories: 1-8 Math, Algebra I, Chemistry, 6-8 Math, Precalculus, and more. Click to a specific topic within the category. View the video lesson and answer questions about material learned. If you miss a question, a pop up explains the topic again. You are directed to try to answer the questions again. Choose to review the topic again or move on to the next lesson. Practice and learn without registering or register to earn badges to show your progress through the topics.

In the Classroom

Find great ideas for using this tool in the classroom with this video. Be sure to include this link with your resources for students to find alternate explanations to topics for better understanding. Assign various topics as a review in addition to lecture and other classroom activities. Assign a specific topic (not already learned in class) for cooperative groups to view. Have students create a word cloud of the important terms they learn from this site/activity using a tool such as Wordle (reviewed here), Tagxedo (reviewed here), or WordItOut (reviewed here).

This amazing online project documents the history of information and media. The project covers a huge scope of time, starting with entries from 2,500,000 BC up to the present time. Use the Google Maps based interface (Map View) to explore the records geographically. Select from a large number of themes including archaeology, writing, or paleontology. You can also explore this tool by historical era or regions. Search the tool using the tabs Outline View, Expanded View, or Map View. Explore the Narrative and Analysis tab for valuable information.

In the Classroom

Use this tool to research the history of writing, communication, and technology through the ages. Connect each of these discoveries with other events including political, religious, or social changes also occurring at the time. Assign cooperative learning groups different areas of this website to explore. Challenge students to use a mapping tool such as Mapskip (reviewed here) to create a map of their own (with audio stories and pictures included)!

Money as You Grow provides 20 essential, age-appropriate financial lessons--with corresponding activities--that kids need to know as they grow. Divided into 5 different age categories, lessons are grouped according to different age requirements. Click on an age group: ages 3-5, ages 6-10, ages 11-13, ages 14-18, ages 18+. Once you choose an age group, click on the link to view activities appropriate for that particular age. Download and print the free poster listing each of the 20 items in three different sizes through the link provided at the bottom of the page.

In the Classroom

View suggestions offered on the site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Share this information with parents to explore at home together. Try one of the suggested activities for math lessons in your classroom. For example: 6-10 year olds should begin learning how to shop and compare. Bring in local newspapers for students to compare prices on advertised items. Whatever age level you teach, explore the activities for that level. Assign cooperative learning groups to explore one of the specific lessons/activities. Ask middle school groups to "teach" a class based on one of the lessons. Challenge middle and high school groups to share what they learned by creating a simple infographic using Easel.ly, reviewed here or Venngage reviewed here.

Women in World History offers sophisticated, high-level learning opportunities for exploration and research into the role of women throughout the world. Choose website reviews to find scholarly reviews of online archives and resources. View more than 200 primary sources with essays analyzing gender. View case studies from teachers discussing primary sources. Classroom modules offer lesson plans for several topics: the British Empire, Western Views of Chinese Women, and the Soviet Dictatorship. The lesson plans include everything you need: ways to differentiate the lesson, objectives, materials, time needed, and additional strategies.

In the Classroom

Use modules from this site to supplement current teaching materials. If you are teaching about primary sources, be sure to share that part of this website. Students can search by region: Africa, The Americas, East Asia, Europe, Mid-East/North Africa, Russia, South Asia, or Southeast Asia. Information on this site is written at a very high level. Use this with gifted and AP students as a source for research information or extended lessons in current content.

Explore and view archives from seven museums in Europe from the comfort of your computer screen! Choose a specific time period, country, or object group to view artifacts. Links to artifacts include an image along with its name, type, country, chronology, time period, and museum location where it is housed. Click on the image thumbnail for a 3D image and links to more in-depth information. Find main characteristics, discovery information, state of the object, and deepenings (a short analysis and description).

In the Classroom

View this site together on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) to see artifacts from 40,000 BC through 0 BC. Share this site in art class as a resource for different art and artifacts from early times. Allow students to explore on their own to find objects by date, country, or type. Challenge students to create a newspaper article about an artifact using the Newspaper Clipping Generator.

Find free, scalable vector images created by a community of designers whose goal is to create a universal global language of symbols that everyone can understand. Vector files are images that do not change or become fuzzy when you resize them. Communicating visually is powerful and easy using symbols like these. Move beyond language and cultural barriers in learning and communicating by using these symbols. You must set up a free account to actually download. Note: Many programs cannot use the file format (SVG) but some programs, such as Adobe Illustrator, can. Don't have a program to open the image? Download the image, then upload to the Media Converter (reviewed here) to convert the image. No need to open the file- just convert! Note that the use of these vector images is FREE if the artist(s) attribution is easily viewable and accessible (linked back to the artist's page on the Noun Project site). Many images are in the public domain with no attribution required. Ethical use would still give credit. If you do not want to attribute each time it is used, icons can be purchased for unlimited use instead. Be patient. This site is often SLOW to open and offers slow downloads because of the larger image files.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

The symbols are useful for autistic support, emotional support, ESL/ELL, and even in world languages. Use these vector diagrams for creating infographics and pictograms in any content area. Use a site such as Easel.ly, reviewed here or Venngage reviewed here. Challenge students to tell a rebus-style story using simple symbols only. This is a fun and imaginative way for students to think creatively. Use these symbols to create classroom signs. Teach students digital citizenship along with creativity by learning to give credit for resources used as they explain. Try using icons like these in the navigation area of a wiki or class website instead of words to increase the accessibility to others. Be sure to include this site as a list of resources for students to use on your wiki or class website. Students can access images to tell their story or to relate/teach content to others. Encourage students to create their own symbols for use in telling a story (great if students have access to programs that can create vector images). Special ed teachers may want to use these symbols on communication boards. Note: since file downloads are slow, you may want to download a collection for your specific lesson or project outside of class time and offer the files to students locally in a shared folder or on a class wiki. Teachers of non-readers will find these symbols useful in making classroom rules or signs.

Create a word search in a few easy steps. You can choose the size of the puzzle (10 x 10 to 100 x 100) as well as how many words the puzzle contains. You can also choose the highlight color, background color, font size and "word management." Word management allows you the choice of words being forward and backward, diagonal, up and down, and more. Options allow for the puzzle to be played online or printed out.

In the Classroom

Use this resource to help students review spelling words or other content related vocabulary. Change the font to a larger size and print it out for young children or students that have vision issues. Have students create word searches for other students to take. Learning support teachers might want to have partners create word searches as a review activity for terms.

FInd an extensive collection of art and drama lesson plans for use in all grade levels. Choose a grade level from categories on the left side of the page. Pick from sub-categories such as type of medium, art period, or artist. One particularly useful category is by integration: ideas you can choose for lessons in subjects such as health, science, or language arts. Once you choose a lesson title, specific details include materials used, appropriate age levels, instructions, and images of projects. Many, but not all lessons also include correlation to national standards. Click on the printer friendly link to print lessons without all the clutter on the page.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Bookmark and save this site as a resource for art projects throughout the year, especially if budget cuts have taken away your art teacher! Be sure to check out the link to Sub Lessons. Print and save a couple of these to have in your substitute folder for use if necessary. Share with your art teacher (if you have one) as a resource.

Sometimes it's best to go straight to the source. The US Department of Education offers advice, information, and links for those searching for financial aid to attend post-secondary education. Not a fancy site, but all the relevant information is there: defining the kinds of financial aid, applying for financial aid, comparing financial aid offers from colleges, and understanding the repayment process. There is also a link to the new "College Scorecard" site that provides more guidance in comparing the potential financial costs of different colleges. In addition there are several infographics and videos (which link to YouTube) that provide important overviews in each of the broad categories covered on the site. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable. You could always view the videos at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as KeepVid reviewed here to download the videos from YouTube.

In the Classroom

While this is certainly a good site for students and families to consult from home, it would also be useful as an authentic resource for lessons in financial literacy, career and college planning, and life planning. At the very least, a great bookmark to publicize or add to classroom computers. Be sure to share this link on your class website.

This website is for girls to learn about STEM careers and the various research and educational opportunities that exist for them. Famous women in STEM careers and other prominent women are a focus of this site. Learn about great STEM careers and how STEM impacts much of our world. Watch and learn from others, view video clips, take challenges, learn about careers, and more. Some of the videos are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable. You could always view the videos at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as KeepVid, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube.

In the Classroom

Use this site when researching science careers and scientists to be sure to give women their turn and to inspire another generation of female scientists. Share the video clips on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Use this site during Women's history month. Challenge your students to learn more about present-day famous women in STEM careers and create their own interactive books. Have students use Ourboox, reviewed here. Ourboox creates beautiful page-flipping digital books in minutes, and you can embed video, music, animation, games, maps and more.